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1816IIHF News from www.iifh.comTYPO3 - get.content.righthttp://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rssFri, 31 Jul 2015 11:59:00 +0200Hockey camp kicks off in Koreahttp://www.iihf.com/home-of-hockey/news/news-singleview/?no_cache=1&tx_ttnews%5Btt_news%5D=9941
Asia gets a boost with Hockey Together programSEOUL – From July 20 to 27, Korea University will play host to more than 150 hockey-mad athletes and officials from seven countries, as part of the country’s Hockey Together program. Their mission? To eat, sleep, and dream hockey.

Coming from India, Malaysia, Serbia, Thailand, Turkey, Ukraine and Korea, the participants will undergo a week of intensive hockey training. Alongside these players and officials are a group of dedicated instructors. The instructors come from all levels of hockey, and are ready to share knowledge and exchange experiences with the participants. National Program Director Jim Paek will be a special instructor for the camp. Other notable instructors include Jiri Fischer, who played for the Detroit Red Wings his entire NHL career.

The purpose of this camp is to foster close ties and develop the game among the invited countries, who are members in good standing with the Korea Olympic Committee. It also has the added purpose of promoting the sport in view of the 2018 Pyeongchang Olympic Winter Games.

Click here to view Hockey Together's Facebook page

As the name of the camp implies, Hockey Together is all about development. There are six programs at the camp, providing participants with a structure that is conducive to learning. The development programs are focused on players, coaches, goalie coaches, team and equipment managers, and game officials. It is in many ways modeled after the annual IIHF Development Camp held in Vierumaki, Finland, and a number of staff from that camp made the trip to Korea to help out.

Camp participants are male players born between 1997 and 2001. One way the camp is trying to ensure that players in this age group retain their interest in ice hockey careers is to develop coaches that can instill positive values into a player or a team.

For this purpose Hockey Together is hoping to assist coaches in developing their skills in hockey knowledge or management. Moreover, increasingly teams are seeking the services of a goalie coach, a need for many of the participating nations that the program is also hoping to address.

Just like goalie coaches, equipment and team managers are often overlooked as well. The programs at this camp will allow for more knowledge to be shared among this group of managers. Lastly, the game official program is customized to ensure that all officiating needs are met.

Aside from the week-long training and competition, the foreign participants will be taken on a sightseeing trip on their day off. Once the participants return to their home country, it is the hope of the organizers that they share the knowledge gained at the camp with others in their country. The Hockey Together camp is made possible with support from the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism of Korea, the Korea Olympic Committee, Korea University, and the Korea Ice Hockey Association.

With files from Hockey Together

]]>on topOlympics10 JapanChinaChinese TaipeiDPR KoreaKoreaMalaysiaSingaporeSerbiaWed, 22 Jul 2015 13:28:00 +0200Lillehammer callinghttp://www.iihf.com/home-of-hockey/news/news-singleview/?no_cache=1&tx_ttnews%5Btt_news%5D=9926
Skill Challenge fulfils dreams of 30 young athletesWhile Erik Betzold from Germany and Norway's Millie Rose Sirum claimed top spot in the male and female competition respectively, there were more tense moments further down the ranks as the final ranking was kept confidential until the closing ceremony of the 14th IIHF Hockey Development Camp, held simultaneously with the Global Skill Challenge Summit at the Finnish Sports Institute in Vierumaki.

Participants in the Global Skills Challenge Summit brought together 36 boys and 31 girls from 36 different countries. During the three-day event individual skills were put to a test where the prize at stake was a place at the 2016 Winter Youth Olympic Games in Lillehammer in February next year.

With the points ratio for each skill ranging on a falling scale of five points for winning an event down to one point for qualifying to the second round, it was also a competition where the participants’ mathematical skills came to good use.

"We were showed the results after three skills, so I was leading then and after that I just kept adding my points, so I knew around the end of the competition the points that I had," said Betzold, who won the men's competition ahead of Slovakia's Sebastian Cederle and Norway's Sander Hurrod.

"It is a good feeling to win this competition and it will be an honour to represent my country at the Olympics in Lillehammer," said the centre who also plays in Germany's under-16 national team.

Thanks to a number of tightly fought contests and competitors on even points, there was an air of uncertainly all the way to the end which helped adding excitement to the event.

Two such examples being Romania's two representatives, Eduard Casaneanu and Diana-Alexandra Iuga, who finished 15th and 16th respectively and who both were fully unaware of their fate as future Olympians until the announcement was made at the closing ceremony.

Norway, who in their position as hosts already qualified to the Skills Challenge at the 2016 Youth Olympic Winter Games, were invited to take part at the competition at Vierumaki as a preparatory event and seem to be in good stead of what is to come.

"I had trained a lot off ice before I got here, so I expected it to be tough," said Norway's female participant Millie Rose Sirum, who won the female competition in emphatic fashion.

Winning here favourite skill, Fastest Shot, on the third day, she admitted there’s still some room to sharpen her skills in a number of events such as Shooting Accuracy, where the task is to hit all four corners of the net in 30 seconds.

"I got zero in that skill," she said. "I was so bad at that and when things did not work out I started to get really mad at myself for not hitting the target."

In the end her overall skills did the talking and now she can look forward to what is to come, competing on home ice where the experience will be different.

"I now know all of my competitors so that is great. But in Lillehammer I will be more nervous but I will also be playing games at the same time, " she said being part of the Norway team that will be taking part in the women’s ice hockey tournament at the 2016 Youth Olympics.

One who knows all about the travails of multi-tasking is Inaki Cruz Ceballos. Representing Mexico in both the Skills Challenge Summit while also taking part at the IIHF Hockey Development Camp in Vierumaki as a player took its toll.

"It's exciting to be chosen by my country to represent them here, as I can learn from other countries," he said. "But being in the Skills Challenge and the Development Camp is also tiring, physically as well as mentally tiring, so yes, it did affect me a bit," said Cruz Ceballos.

The 2016 Youth Olympic Winter Games will be in held in Lillehammer, 12-21 February 2016 and it will be the second of its kind. The inaugural competition took place in Innsbruck, Austria, in 2012.

In the Olympic Qualification the highest-seeded team of each group has the right to host its group and the Japanese Ice Hockey Federation selected the Tsukisamu Ice Arena in Sapporo.

Sapporo on the northern island of Hokkaido was the first city in Asia to host the Olympic Winter Games in 1972. It also hosted to Asian Winter Games twice and is set to host the next edition in 2017.

The Tsukisamu Ice Arena was also the venue of the 2008 IIHF World Championship Division I Group B where Hungary surprisingly finished first ahead of Ukraine and Japan to earn promotion to the top division for the first time in 70 years. It also hosted several Asia League games last season.

Ukraine will return to the venue as the second-seeded team and also for Croatia it will be a return to Sapporo after less than eight years. Romania is the fourth team to compete in Group J. The winner of the four-team round-robin event will advance to the Final Olympic Qualification held 1-4 September 2016 in three groups to be hosted in Belarus, Latvia and Norway.

The three group winners of the Final Olympic Qualification will join the pre-qualified top-8 nations Canada, Russia, Sweden, Finland, the USA, the Czech Republic, Switzerland and Slovakia as well as host Korea at the 2018 Olympic men’s ice hockey tournament in PyeongChang.

Click here for all groups, teams and venues of the Olympic Qualification.]]>on topOlympics10 JapanUkraineCroatiaRomaniaon lefton rightThu, 02 Jul 2015 10:54:00 +0200New President for Romaniahttp://www.iihf.com/home-of-hockey/news/news-singleview/?no_cache=1&tx_ttnews%5Btt_news%5D=9888
Covaliu follows after Gheorghe’s passing The election of Mihai Covaliu, not to be confused with Romania’s Olympic gold medal winner of the same name in fencing, took place last week at the Ministry of Youth and Sport.

Covaliu, 38, is a lawyer deeply connected to ice hockey. He was a player and later became an on-ice official. As a linesman he also officiated in international events such as the 2004 IIHF Ice Hockey U20 World Championship Division III and the 2005 IIHF Ice Hockey U20 World Championship Division II Group A.

Later he became a referee-in-chief and vice president of the Romanian Ice Hockey Federation before resigning in 2009. He also worked for the Romanian Ice Hockey Federation in the Legal Commission and joined General Secretary Alexandru Halauca to represent Romania at the last two IIHF congresses following Gheorghe’s death.

“Motivated by the big encouragement of the ice hockey family, I decided to run for the post of the Romanian Ice Hockey Federation President to bring about changes and to use my experience for the progress of Romanian ice hockey in the future,” Covaliu said in his speech.

“I was part of Florian Gheorghe team when he took office in November 2013. Unfortunately, as we all know, the presidency of Florian Gheorghe ended dramatically. And for this reason I decided to run and help Romanian ice hockey to continue the programs we started. I wish that during my tenure our national teams will strengthen its position in the World Championship Division I.”]]>on rightIIHFRomaniaMon, 22 Jun 2015 12:33:00 +0200Skills competition goes globalhttp://www.iihf.com/home-of-hockey/news/news-singleview/?no_cache=1&tx_ttnews%5Btt_news%5D=9842
Final qualifier before 2016 Youth Olympic Winter Games39 male and 32 female athletes will compete in a Global Skills Challenge taking place from 5-10 July in Vierumaki, Finland. The names were finalized earlier this month following a lengthy national qualification phase that began last October.

Click here to view all the contestants and skill tests

Nearly every corner of the world will have at least one country competing at the Global Skills Challenge. South America will be represented by Nicolas Fantacone and Iara Haiek from Argentina. Asia will have competitors coming in from China, Hong Kong, and Mongolia among others. New Zealand and Australia each sent two athletes to the inaugural Youth Olympic Games skills challenge three years ago in Innsbruck, and will try to ice a male and female competitor once again in Lillehammer.

The athletes will compete in six skills competitions to determine the 15 best male and the 15 best female athletes that will qualify for the 2016 Youth Olympic Winter Games.

39 countries held national qualification tournaments from October 2014 to early May including YOG 2016 hosts Norway, who will send Sander Hurrod and Millie Rose Sirum to join the other 30 finalists in Lillehammer.

The Under-16 Skills Challenge was conceived ahead of the first Youth Olympic Winter Games in Innsbruck 2012, as a way of getting other countries involved in an ice hockey event beyond the top nations that were competing in the men's and women's ice hockey tournaments.

In 2012, Augusts Valdis Vasilonoks from Latvia and Julie Zwarthoed of the Netherlands won the men's and women's competitions respectively. The final of both competitions were among the best attended at the Games and the event was commended for its innovation and inclusion of non-traditional ice hockey nations.

Click here for a video of the challenges from Innsbruck 2012.

The Skills Challenge will take place between February 12 and 21, 2016, during the 2016 Youth Olympic Winter Games in Lillehammer, Norway.

ADAM STEISS]]>on topOlympics01 Austria03 Canada02 Belarus04 Czech RepublicAustraliaArgentinaBelgiumBulgariaMon, 25 May 2015 11:15:00 +0200Olympic Qualification sethttp://www.iihfworlds2015.com/en/news/olympic-qualification-set/
Belarus, Latvia, Norway host final eventsFor the 12-team tournament at the Olympics in Korea nine teams are automatically qualified. The top-8 teams of the 2015 IIHF Men’s World Ranking and host Korea. After the quarter-finals of the 2015 IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship it is already clear which countries will be in the top-8 positions: Russia, Sweden, Canada, Finland, USA, Czech Republic, Switzerland and Slovakia. (The final order and group seeding for the 2016 Worlds and 2018 Olympics will be known after the last four games at the 2015 IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship.)

The three best teams that didn’t reach a top-8 position earned the right to host one of the three Final Olympic Qualification tournaments that will be held 1-4 September 2016.

Belarus will host Slovenia, Denmark and a qualifier from the Olympic Pre-Qualification. Latvia will organize the group with Germany, Austria and a qualifier; and Norway will be the host country in a tournament with France, Kazakhstan and a qualifier.

A record 37 countries applied to play in the 2018 Olympic men’s ice hockey tournament. The three qualifiers will be determined in nine events over four stages.

Following the allocation, the host cities will be named in the upcoming weeks.

The seeding for the 2018 Olympic women’s ice hockey tournament will be determined in one year based on the 2016 IIHF Women’s World Ranking and the qualification for the women’s teams will be played in the 2016/2017 season.

Note: The qualifiers for the Olympics and the various qualification tournaments will be entered in the order according to their position in the 2015 IIHF Men’s World Ranking.]]>on leftOlympicsWorldsMen02 Belarus17 Slovenia05 Denmark01 Austria08 Germany12 LatviaFri, 15 May 2015 14:46:00 +0200Tournament allocationshttp://www.iihfworlds2015.com/en/news/tournament-allocations/
Division I Group A again in Krakow The 2015 IIHF Annual Congress allocated World Championship events of the upcoming season. In total 28 tournaments are planned for next year.

The IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship Division I Group A with the second-tier countries of men’s hockey will again be held in Krakow, Poland, where up to 12,632 fans were at games at Tauron Arena Krakow. Total attendance was 66,651.

Slovenia, which was relegated to the Division I Group A here in the Czech Republic, also declared interest in hosting the tournament but withdrew its bid.

The tournament with Austria, Slovenia, Poland, Japan, Italy and Korea will be held from 23-29 April 2016 in the former Polish capital. The top-two teams will be promoted to the 2017 IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship in Cologne, Germany, and Paris, France.

The Division I Group B will be held from 17-23 April 2016 in Zagreb, Croatia, whose bid got more votes than Tallinn, Estonia. The participants are Ukraine, Great Britain, Lithuania, Croatia, Estonia and Romania with the winner being promoted to the Division I Group A. Jaca (Spain), Mexico City and Istanbul (Turkey) will host the other men’s tournaments.

The 2015/2016 season will also see the international comeback of Minsk’s Chizhovka Arena. Built as the secondary venue for the 2014 IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship, the 8,807-seat arena will host the 2016 IIHF Ice Hockey U18 World Championship Division I Group A. The Division I Group A for the U20 teams will be hosted in Vienna, Austria, and in the women’s category in Aalborg, Denmark.

The top division events for next season have already been allocated earlier. See below for the full list of World Championship events in 2015/2016.

MEN’S CATEGORY

2016 IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship In Moscow & St. Petersburg, Russia, 6-22 May 2016 Groups to be announced after the gold medal game.

2016 IIHF Ice Hockey U18 Women’s World Championship Division I Qualification Due to the high interest, a new format and the participants will be determined at the 2015 IIHF Semi-Annual Congress in September 2015.]]>on leftWorldsMenWomenU20U18Women U1801 Austria02 Belarus03 CanadaFri, 15 May 2015 14:43:00 +0200Job done for Romaniahttp://www.iihf.com/home-of-hockey/news/news-singleview/?no_cache=1&tx_ttnews%5Btt_news%5D=9601
Returns to Division IB at first attemptFour straight wins sealed Romania's place at the top ahead of the final round of games. Never falling behind on the score sheet in any of their games they saw off Serbia (8-4), Australia (5-1), Belgium (4-3) and Spain (7-1) to bounce straight back to Division I Group B following last year's relegation.

"We came here with one goal and that was to win gold so the rest should be history, but we were far too inconsistent and only really played one good period throughout the tournament," said Romania's head coach Kjell Lindqvist.

3-0 on the scoreboard and 15-2 in shots in Romania's favour after the first period against Belgium was a good as it got for Romanian in terms of a performance close to their full potential.

"We took the lead in each of our four games, but then fall into our opponents tempo while starting to believe we are the world champions. Mistakes are then made, we get punished for them and we have to try and start all over again," said Lindqvist.

After their clinically executed first frame against Belgium, it was followed by a lacklustre display for most of the ensuing two periods which in the end almost cost Romania all three points in what was their sternest test on route to the gold medals.

First a ferocious Vadim Gyesbreghs powerplay goal from the point flew past Romania's debutant goalie, 20-year-old Otto Onodi, at 2:09 of the second period to pull a goal back for Belgium. Less than four minutes later Belgian captain Jordan Paulus cut Romania's lead to a single goal to the dismay of Romania's head coach.

"They forechecked hard and we haven't got the quickest defencemen so it takes too long to play the first pass. But we have a first line led by Roberto Gliga, who showed their class throughout the tournament," said Lindqvist.

Gliga, who alongside his linemates Levente Zsok and Ede Mihaly spearheaded Romania's most lethal offensive weapon, was behind Romania's game-winning goal that downed Belgium. Zsok and Gliga combined nicely with the latter making it 4-2 for Romania at 3:15 of the third period before a fine Mitch Morgan solo effort brought nerves back into the game scoring Belgium's third. Despite late pressure, Romania rode out the storm to come out on top as 4-3 winners.

"Belgium was our toughest opponent," said Gliga. "It was a hard and tight game and you never know what could have happened if there would have been a few more minutes."

21-year-old Gliga, one of many players missing on last year's roster when a threadbare Romania team missing up to 15 players was relegated from the Division I Group B. This time around Lindqvist had a wider range of players at his disposal to choose from for his final roster.

"Last year the team was more or less only made up of players who either wanted to play or could play. Although we have five-six players who are back home for various reasons, we had a bigger selection to choose from this year," said Lindqvist, who among others welcomed back captain Attila Goga in defence but also introduced players from the next generation such as Daniel Tranca and Otto Onodi for their debut at this level.

"We have an aging team on paper and without mentioning any names there are players who have made their last appearances for the national team. Romania will have to start giving younger players the chance and now we will have to wait and see what Romanian Ice Hockey Federation will do for next season," said Lindqvist, who coached Romania at the Division I Group B last year and is well aware of what awaits next year.

"This type of performances we have put in here on Iceland are nowhere good enough for that level, but if we can get our things together then we are able to stay in the division," he said.

Vital for Romania's chances to stay up next year will be Gliga in shape, who despite his tender age already played two World Championships at Division I Group B level for his country, finishing fourth both in 2012 and 2013 and is ready to roll up his sleeves and do it all over again next year.

"We showed that we can do it in the past, so if we can get our full roster together and are ready to fight hard then I am sure we are going to manage to stay there next season," Gliga said.

The last round will be played on Sunday with the games Serbia-Spain, Australia-Belgium and Romania-Iceland.

Click here for scores, stats and a live stream.

HENRIK MANNINEN]]>on topWorldsMenRomaniaon lefton rightSat, 18 Apr 2015 09:27:00 +0200Romanian U18 returnshttp://www.iihf.com/home-of-hockey/news/news-singleview/?no_cache=1&tx_ttnews%5Btt_news%5D=9487
Matyas Kovacs scores OT winner vs. Spain in Div. IIBThe team that was relegated to this group began the event with a 4-3 win against host Serbia, which led the game after four minutes of play and again in the middle frame after two Luka Vukicevic goals. But the Romanians, who outshot their neighbours 58-30, found back in the third period thanks to goals from their second line and the game winner from Szilard Rokaly on the power play with 88 seconds left in regulation time.

After lopsided wins against Belgium (10-1), China (10-2) and Australia (18-3), the Romanians faced second-seeded Spain on the last day, which had also gone through the tournament undefeated in victories against China (3-1), Serbia (2-0), Australia (14-4) and Belgium (6-4).

Like throughout the whole tournament, Romania was the team with the best offence, although this time it was tight as Romania outshot Spain 31-28 and the Spaniards kept the game close. They first opened the scoring with a goal from Sergi Pous on a two-man advantage at 8:53 but early in the second period Tihamer Gyorfy tied it up for the Romanians.

A goal from Matyas Kovacs gave Romania its first lead of the game at 3:37 of the third period but two minutes later Ignacio Granell answered with the 2-2 marker. Gyorfy’s second goal of the day, on a power play at 8:02, gave Romania the lead back but at 15:32 Spain’s Albert Torner tied the game at three.

The Romanians had the chance for a late game winner themselves with two power plays but the Spanish box play worked well and the game went to overtime.

After three minutes of extra time it was Kovacs, who netted the puck to earn his team the tournament win and promotion. Kovacs, who plays in the second-tier German junior league DNL2 for Krefeld, was also the scoring leader of the tournament with six goals and nine assists before his teammate Szilard Rokaly, who was the top goal scorer with eight goals and four assists.

Also other teams had forwards that stood out on their teams. Vukicevic, who plays in the senior league for Beostar Belgrade as a 17-year-old, scored seven goals for Serbia.

Rudi Ying scored six goals for China. Ying, who played hockey both in China and in the United States, is the son of Da Ying and the grandson of the late Ruocheng Ying, both famous actors and film directors in China, his mother is Chinese writer Liang Huan. His father Da Ying even worked as a hockey commentator for the Chinese broadcaster at the 2014 Olympics in Sochi thanks to his son’s love for the game.

The final ranking of the tournament corresponded with the pre-event seeding. After the tight losses in the first two games against the top-seeded teams, host Serbia recovered with three wins to claim the bronze medals. The deciding win for the medals came in a thrilling 6-5 victory against fourth-placed Belgium.

Serbia led 4-0 after 22 minutes of play but the Belgians staged a comeback and came back to one goal with 71 seconds left in the game but the Serbs didn’t allow the game-tying goal in the last minute of the game.

China reached fifth place with its only win coming against Australia, 8-1, meaning that Australia will have to compete in the Division III next year.

MARTIN MERK]]>on leftWorldsU18RomaniaSerbiaSpainBelgiumChinaAustraliaon rightMon, 23 Mar 2015 12:50:00 +0100Olympic qualification format sethttp://www.iihf.com/home-of-hockey/news/news-singleview/?no_cache=1&tx_ttnews%5Btt_news%5D=9450
2015 Worlds to determine men’s seedingThe qualification structure for the Olympic men’s tournament will have an immediate impact on the upcoming IIHF World Championship, as the 2015 IIHF World Ranking will be used to seed the top eight automatic entries and the men’s qualification program.

Click here to view the qualification structure and operating dates for the 2018 Olympic Winter Games men’s and women’s ice hockey qualification programs.

Click here for more information on the IIHF World Ranking and the recent positions from 2014.

The Olympic men’s tournament format will be the same as in Sochi, with four teams seeded into three groups. The top eight teams in the 2015 IIHF Men’s World Ranking – which is determined following the results of the 2015 IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship – will be automatically seeded 1-8 in the tournament. Korea currently holds the 12th seed as tournament host, leaving three qualification positions available.

The men’s Olympic qualification program will operate from November 2015 through to September 2016. Each of the qualification phases will be a four-team round-robin format, with a total of 12 teams split into three groups.

The qualification program begins 5 November 2015 with the Olympic Preliminary Qualification, available to teams seeded 27th to 36th. The three group winners qualify for the Olympic Pre-Qualification, which will take place 11-14 February 2016. There they will be seeded again into three different groups with the 18-26-seeded nations.

The three Pre-Qualification group winners will move on to the Final Qualification phase set for 1-4 September 2016.

On the women’s side, the 2016 IIHF Women’s World Ranking will be used to seed the women’s program. The top five-ranked teams following the 2016 IIHF Ice Hockey Women’s World Championship will earn automatic entry into PyeongChang 2018.

As in Sochi a total of eight teams will be competing at the 2018 Olympics, seeded into two tiered groups. The top four teams will make up Group A, while the fifth-ranked team, tournament hosts Korea, and two qualifiers will form Group B. The four teams from Group A and the top two teams from Group B will advance to the playoff round. The top two teams of Group A get a bye to the semi-finals.

The women’s tournament qualification program will operate from August 2016 through to February 2017. The program will feature three qualification phases as with the men’s, but with two groups instead of three.

Teams seeded 18-24 will participate in the initial Preliminary Qualification tournament from 25-28 August 2016. The two winners from each group join the 12-17-seeded countries in the Pre-Qualification. The two Pre-Qualification winners then battle it out with the 6-11-seeded nations for the two final spots in Korea.

All locations for the Olympic Qualification tournaments will be announced at a later date.

Teams that wish to compete in the men’s qualification program must submit an entry form in April 2015. The Team Entry Forms for participation in the women’s qualification tournaments will be distributed in the early spring of 2016.